How to Identify Uncut Rough (or Raw) Diamonds

Perhaps you’ve heard or read about rough diamonds (or raw diamonds, as some people call them). If you’re wondering how these stones are different from the ones regularly sold in the jewelry store, read on. Let’s see what rough diamonds are, how you can identify them, and whether you can buy a rough diamond.

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What Are Rough Diamonds?

Rough diamonds are stones that have not undergone any treatment after they were found in the earth.

Pendant with an uncut rough diamond

In general, diamonds sold in jewelry stores have been cut to make them faceted and give them a certain shape, and then they have also been polished.

Rough diamonds, on the other hand, are uncut and unpolished, and they have not been altered in any way after they were mined.

How to Identify Rough Diamonds?

Rough diamonds look like transparent stones that are either colorless or tinted in yellowish or brownish color.

Actually, a very small percentage of rough diamonds are as colorless as the diamonds you can see in the jewelry store; most natural diamonds are tinted, and this is why the few white ones are so valuable.

You may read or hear about a lot of different methods to identify a real diamond.

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The reality is, however, that most of them are unreliable.

There are many minerals that look like diamond and have very similar physical characteristics, and unless you are in an area where diamonds are mined, or you are a gemologist, you can never be sure that the transparent stone you’ve just found is the real thing.

If you don’t have such a device and want to see if a stone you’ve found is a diamond, you can always go to a jewelry store and ask to have the stone tested (the service will usually cost you a small fee).